


The +1

by Oienel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:35:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oienel/pseuds/Oienel
Summary: You find yourself inviting your colleague to a wedding, and honestly? It’s all your friends’ fault.





	1. Chapter 1

“If there is no stated start date, you always choose “lease start” as your base date, ok? And don’t forget to set type as “rolling” – it means that they can exercise the option at any given time.” You are pretty sure you’ve said that before. Like a million times. But of course not to these people. This particular group heard that maybe ten thousand times.  

The temp whose question prompted your answer nods dutifully and focuses on her screen to correct her errors. You can see the rest of the group frantically scrolling to make sure that they filled the extract correctly.

Glass doors to the conference room open with a quiet whoosh and familiar head appears in the crack. Not that you wouldn’t be able to see him without that since there are no walls in this office. Only glass, glass, and some more glass.

“Psst.” He calls and you don’t know if you should laugh or be annoyed – but you know he is doing it for laughs. But he is distracting your temps, who are curiously looking at him from over their screens. “Got a minute?”

“Go back to work.” You say to your group, and you turn around to face Jongdae. “Why?”

“How is your Portuguese?” He asks in turn and takes a step back. You follow him out and together you walk down the corridor. The office is loud, but that’s to be expected in an open space.

“Good enough.” You say, but you make sure to add a little bit of uncertainty to your voice. “But weren’t you the head of Plaza’s Asian project?”

“That’s the problem.” Jongdae laughs, and since you’ve reached his office he opens doors for you and lets you in. You immediately walk over to his desk and you sit down in his chair, not waiting for him to pull up the site – you can do that yourself. “We’ve got some contracts from Macau and some are written in Portuguese – which, as you can guess, is a little bit annoying.”

You laugh, because, yes, you can understand that. You log onto Jongdae’s managing account (you’ve started back in the same year and you both still use the generic password that was given that year).

“What’s the ID of the contract?”

“1853 dash M.O dash 6788910 to 678814.”

“You remember that?” You glance at him quite impressed, and Jongdae waves a memo at your face. Right.

You pull up the first contract while Jongdae sits down on one of his couches, putting his legs up on his coffee table. Thankfully they are at most 7 pages long so you can do that in an hour.

“Why didn’t you as Angela though? She is back from her vacation.”

“Yeaaah…” He stretches the word long enough for you to look up from the contract. Jongdae shrugs. “I find her kinda creepy and I didn’t want to talk to her.”

“You can’t be serious. I am in charge of teaching new guys for the Spanish team, I can’t be doing side jobs when the person responsible for Portuguese is back at work.” You say that, but you are already filling extracts. You are efficient.

“I know,” he whines, but you only shake your head. “I will do your sorting for ACC Group in turn?”

You look up surprised, but you immediately school yourself. Sorting is a pain in the ass and no one ever wants to do that. No one. So you are not going to say no to such a deal.

“Well, I think we can work something out.”

*

 _… I know we were supposed to do it together and I swear it wasn’t planned, but it just happened? And I hope you’ll understand me! I am really sorry, but at the same time I just can’t_ not _do it, you know?_

There is a knock on your doors and you look up to see Louise in front of your office. You minimize your mail and wave her inside.

“Hi,” she greets you absentmindedly and checks something on her phone. “Are Francesco Hidalgo and Amelia… Rias in your training group?”

“I am sure Amelia is, but Francesco… Gimme a moment.” You quickly search for your list and sure enough, they are both in your group. “You need them for Piaza?”

“Yeah, they dumped on us 60 more leases and they want it done by Monday.” You smiled slightly as a way to show your compassion. “I desperately need everyone that speaks French.”

“Sure, I will send them to you. Francesco is good, but keep an eye on Amelia. She is eager, but she forgets everything I tell her as soon as she is done with a task.” Louise sighs and shrugs. Her phone vibrates and she checks it. You reflexively check your own, and you see a reminder of your wax appointment.

Which immediately reminds you of the mail you were reading when Louise came.

“Well, we had worse,” says Louise absentmindedly. “Anyway, please send them to me as soon as possible.”

“You got it.”

Louise walks out of your office leaving door half open, and you feel a pang of annoyance at that, but you focus on your computer. You open slack and message both aforementioned trainees. Then you look up, over your screen to see what’s happening in the conference room where they are sitting. You can see Francesco call Amelia to check her message, and a second later they both look up. They see you staring and Francesco mouths _now?_ at you. You nod and point at French’s team room.

You stare at them for a second longer, making sure that they will take their laptops with them, and then you open your mail one more time.

_… but I think he’s the one…_

For fuck’s sake.

*

Social room is filled with the pleasant smell of fresh coffee. You hum contentedly as soon as you walk in, waving to two members of the Italian team sitting at the table under the window.

“We’ve just made coffee,” laughs Theo. “I knew you’d smell if from afar.”

“Of course, I would,” you laugh, opening the cabinet to grab your cup. It looks like an old boring black cup, but it has a quirky message hidden on the bottom (namely if you tip it to drink people around you can see a middle finger).

You grab an apple and pour yourself the coffee, and immediately you take a satisfying sip. The coffee is good, office not sparing expenses on shared goods.

“I smell coffee, I see Spanish PM – everything is in order.” Ok, your obsession with coffee is not _that_ strong. But you laugh nonetheless moving so Jongdae can also pour himself a cup. Together you join Theo and Norbert – they immediately start talking about football. In this office, every world championship is a serious deal – with so many nationalities mingling together.

“We’ll be playing the game after hours. We have a projector and everything – boss already give his thumbs up.”

“Really?” You have to say you are impressed.

“Yeah! Are you staying? We are ordering pizzas.” Jongdae is wiggling his eyebrows and you just have to laugh.

“Damn, that’s tempting, but I have a previous engagement.” Even saying that makes you feel as if something was weighing you down. It’s not your friend’s fault. You can understand her, but also – you feel betrayed.

Jongdae whines and you shake your head. You stand up patting his arm, you grab your coffee and your apple, and you salute the table going back to work. Your mood is… not good.

So your good friend is getting married. You are slowly entering this age group when people around you start to get married, it’s nothing surprising. It’s also nothing bad that there are people marrying and having children, and also people that can’t find their other half (like you). It’s not a big deal. Months ago when you got an invitation you were panicked. Going to a wedding alone is not a fun thing to do. And it’s frowned upon in your social circle.

But out of your friends, there were two other girls that didn’t have their plus-ones. Together you decided you don’t have to since you’ll have yourselves to have fun with.

The first girl dropped out two months ago. Betty found a partner/boyfriend, but you didn’t worry. There was still the other one. At least you thought so. Until today, when you got a mail saying that she _found_ a partner and that she is leaving you alone to deal with this shit.

Bride already mailed you the updates on your lodgings and stuff, and she was cute enough to include a sublime message that _there is still a place for your_ +1 _if you happen to find someone._

Sure. With four days until the wedding.

*

_…we will be going there around 2 PM, and we have still two seats left…_

You want to rub your eyes, but you know you’ll smudge your makeup. All your yesterday correspondence was about the wedding. Which wasn’t surprising and was to be expected, but everyone was trying to convey to you that yes, you _can_ still invite someone. It’s so annoying because you know that they are worried about you, but at the same time, you can feel that they are pitying you.

At least you are as smooth as a dolphin.

_KoreanPM (1-800-call-me-maybe): Did the coffee machine broke again?_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): No. Why? Wait, did it?_

_KoreanPM (1-800-call-me-maybe): Dunno, you look down._

You look up, and you see Jongdae in his office. He starts laughing, and:

_KoreanPM (1-800-call-me-maybe): Well, now you are looking up. That was easy._

_KoreanPM (1-800-call-me-maybe): What’s wrong?_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): Friends’ stuff. Nothing big._

_KoreanPM (1-800-call-me-maybe): Remember the training – if something is wrong, send a ticket to the support._

On the screen appears a pop-out reminding you about training. You gather your things and wave to Jongdae – you can already see your training group sitting in the conference room. All except for French speakers.

On your way to the conference room your phone chimes.

_I asked Marie to change your room to double, but with single beds! You can invite a platonic friend!_

That is peer pressure.

*

_FrenchPM (quand même): She can’t remember a single instruction. Honestly, that is kind of amazing._

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): Told you._

*

_… if you want I can ask him for you?_

They’ve started setting you up, which, you are pretty sure, is the most horrible thing they could do. You are so stressed that you can feel the bile in the back of your throat _all the time_.

_Theo_Agosti (laugh, live, lay down): Coffee :coffee:_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): :kissing_ smiling_eyes:_

_Theo_Agosti (laugh, live, lay down): :poop:_

You stretch and push back in your swivel chair, just as you notice Jongdae in front of your door. He is holding your cup in one hand, and his own in the other. He places both of the cups in one hand and opens the door.

“I love you,” you whisper, outstretching your arms for your cup.

“Yeah, I know, I already called my parents to let them know you want to meet them before we elope.”

It is a joke, but it dampens your mood immediately. You take offered coffee and sigh.

_Theo_Agosti (laugh, live, lay down): Better than uber eats :poop:_

Jongdae sits down in front of your desk.

“Talk to me,” he says taking a sip. You follow his suit, and yeah, coffee is hot and rich. You cluck.

“It’s nothing big – it’s just…”

Your phone chimes and you see a message that covers you in cold sweat.

 _Gonna ask him_.

“What?” Jongdae sounds lost, but you can just stare at your phone in horror. “What happened?”

 _Don’t. You. Dare._ – You send back, knowing that you’ve reached the bottom.

“Jongdae?” You ask, feeling how your pulse pounds in your ears.

“Yeah?”

“Are you doing anything this weekend?” You can believe what you are doing. Jongdae is a colleague. For all you know he could have a long time girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. He could be engaged. Hell, he could already be married!

“Nothing special as far I know, why?”

“Would you like to go with me to my friend’s wedding?” You ask, not believing that you are actually doing it. You can want to explain why, and you want to tell him that there will be an open bar and free food, and that you are not a serial murder, and that your situation is desperate – but you can’t find words.

“Oh…” You can’t even look him in the face. He has a girlfriend. He obviously has a girlfriend. And you are only a colleague anyway. Please let it be girlfriend, not a boyfriend. Or maybe boyfriend would be better. You are losing your mind. “Yeah, ok. That could be fun!”

_Wait, what?_


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you serious?” It’s out of your mouth before you can stop yourself. You really didn’t expect him to agree when you asked. “You want to come with me?”

“Uh… Yes? I guess? You don’t sound like you want me to go, though.” Jongdae is confused, and you? You are confused as hell. Doesn’t he have something that would prevent him from coming? Other plans, things to do? Why would he want to spend his time with a bunch of people he doesn’t know (you included)?

“No, I want, I am just… Surprised, that’s all. I didn’t expect you to agree,” you let that slip, but you are still bamboozled by the whole thing. Jongdae shrugs.

“So? When and where should we meet?” He asks, and it brings you back to Earth. Ok, so it happened, and you have to roll with that. Who knows? Maybe it will be really worth it?

“Oh, so the wedding is this Friday at 6pm. I know that my friends are going around 2pm, and they still have two seats in their car so we could get a ride. It will last till Sunday, but of course, you can go back on Saturday.” You say, shrugging. Jongdae bites his lip and pulls out his phone checking his calendar.

“I knew it… I have a meeting at 1:30pm this Friday, so I probably won’t be able to catch that ride. Where exactly is it?”

“You know where the Grand Lake is? It’s a hotel on the west-side bay. It’s about an hour ride.” You say and Jongdae nods.

“Well, if you don’t need 3h hours to prepare, we could start together from here around 2:30pm? I am pretty sure I will be done by then – and we can take my car.”

You nod. If Jongdae takes his car it will mean he won’t be stuck there if he wants to leave, and this calms you. He nods back at you and smiles.

“So? That was your big problem?”

_FrenchPM (quand même): Jongdae is not reading his messages, send him my way._

You catch that message in the corner of your eye, but you look up and Louise is staring at you from her office. Having glass everywhere can be quite… straining. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere.

“Uh…” It doesn’t really sound intelligent, but you are not sure whether you should answer. And whether you want to answer. Especially since Jongdae has his phone in his hand, and he should see slack’s notifications.

_FrenchPM (quand même): is he slacking? :wink: :poop:_

“Louise is complaining that you are not answering her, she needs you.” You finally say, and Jongdae’s face falls a little, but he checks his phone. He exhales forcibly, rubbing the screen of his phone on his thigh to clean it.

“Well, work is calling. I will message you later.” He says and smiles. He grabs his cup after that and motions to Louise that he’s coming. She shows him her thumbs up.

*

_Amelia_Rias: Hi, sorry to interrupt, but I am not sure what to do with one extract. In the break option, I don’t have any date, what should I set as a start date? And what is the difference between type: “fixed” or “rolling”?_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions) is writing_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions) is writing_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions) is away_

_*_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions) sent a picture_

_FrenchPM (quand même): not even surprised._

*

 _KoreanPM (_ _치지_ _않은_ _공은_ _100%_ _골인되지_ _않는다_ _):_ _help a man in need_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): I am not doing any more Portuguese contracts_

_KoreanPM (_ _치지_ _않은_ _공은_ _100%_ _골인되지_ _않는다_ _):_ _:poop: :poop: :poop:_

_*_

_SpanishPM invited KoreanPM & PortuguesePM to the chat_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): Hi, Angela! Jongdae has a favor to ask of you!_

_SpanishPM left the chat_

_*_

Jongdae gives you a stinky eye over his computer and you wonder for a second if it’s right to do a thing like, a day after you asked him for a really big favor. But no point crying over spilt milk. And anyway, he needs to learn how to talk to Angela, because there are rumors around that he is going to get promoted to Asian Team Leader, which would place him in a position that would require him to manage PMs under him.

On the plus note, your friends are all so stoked. Which is understandable. With you coming with a plus-one, they won’t feel _that_ guilty. They all came together to imagine a happy ending for you as well, which was even more annoying than their previous pitying of you. You’ve invited a colleague so they would leave you alone, but now they are blowing this out to be some kind of amazing love story.

You have to be sure _not_ to catch the bouquet.

*

You are finally working. How long it was since you really sat down in front of your computer pulled out a deal in Spanish and you really sat down to analyze it? Way too long that’s for sure. Your good mood can’t be damped by the fact that it’s a Chilean contract, so you need to read your way through rows of numbers written in words. Social security number? Sure, let’s start with _sesenta y seismillionestrescientos_ _ochenta y cuatro_ …

 _KoreanPM (_ _치지_ _않은_ _공은_ _100%_ _골인되지_ _않는다_ _): Btw, what are we giving bride &groom?_

 _KoreanPM (_ _치지_ _않은_ _공은_ _100%_ _골인되지_ _않는다_ _): And who are they to you?_

Right – he doesn’t even know whose this wedding is.

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): Bride is my best friend from uni. And upon her own request, she is getting a slow cooker._

_KoreanPM (_ _치지_ _않은_ _공은_ _100%_ _골인되지_ _않는다_ _):_ _:thumbs_up:_

There is a shy knock on the glass and you look up to see Amelia. You wave her in.

“How can I help you?” You ask, noticing that she has her laptop in her hands. Please, let it not be about break option. Let it be anything else _but_ break option.

“Yeah, sorry, but I have this problem with one of the extracts? You see…” She puts the laptop on your desk and points you to the extract – you don’t read French, so you don’t understand what exactly the contract is saying, but you can see that it _is_ about break option.

“Oh, yes – it’s really easy, you know?” You say, trying to sound helpful. “If there is no stated start date, you always choose “lease start” as your base date, ok? And don’t forget to set type as “rolling” – it means that they can exercise the option at any given time.”

You really feel like you’ve already said that exact thing to Amelia, and well… You did.

“Oh!” She exclaims. “I get it now! Thank you!”

 _Do you really get it?_ You want to ask, but you just nod and smile.

*

_KoreanPM invited SpanishPM & 16 others to Plaza A-Project chat_

_SpanishPM left the chat_

_KoreanPM invited SpanishPM to Plaza A-Project chat_

*

You look up incredulously to see Jongdae diving behind his screen – but you catch his bright smile. Finally, you just snort and go back to your work. You are not sure _why_ Jongdae needs you so back in that project when your expertise is _Spanish_ , but you do enjoy the bickering.

_Theo_Agosti (laugh, live, lay down): happy hour?_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): can’t, reviews to do before weekend_

_Theo_Agosti (laugh, live, lay down): :poop:_

You pull up the deal, finally able to continue working. You really need to get yourself together if you want to leave work early on Friday. And you _really_ want to leave early.

*

On Friday morning you enter your office with a sports bag on your shoulder and your dress in zip protector bag. The slow cooker is already packed and waiting from the day before. You couldn’t sleep – so excited and nervous you were. Not only it’s your friend’s wedding and you are really happy for her, but also you can’t wait to have fun during the reception.

And there is also Jongdae, who just enters his office. He doesn’t have matching luggage, but you don’t fret – it’s probably in his car anyway. He notices you looking and he waves to you smiling so bright that his eyes turn into little happy crescents. He hits his keyboard without even sitting down at his desk, and standing he logs onto his computer.

And a second later you get the message.

 _KoreanPM (_ _행운_ _빌어줘_ _): 2_ _pm!_

_SpanishPM (there are stupid questions): :thumbsup:_

Your day is slow and lazy like Fridays usually are. Everyone is already thinking about the weekend and no one is eager to stir shit, so no one is really bothering you. Finally, you have time to finish and sent last contracts of ACC-Uruguay Project and by noon you are basically ready to go. You stop by the kitchen to pour yourself a cup of coffee and grab some muesli bar, where Theo is as always slacking off. Which is doubly true, because he is texting someone through slack.

On your way back you notice two members of Korean team standing in Jongdae’s open door.

“형, 오늘 회식하자… 오래동안 안했는데…” It’s Sangmin who is speaking, and despite yourself, you tune in. Ok, so there might have been a time when you enjoyed watching Korean dramas and you tried to learn the language. It wasn’t very successful, but you can tell that Sangmin and Seungho are nagging Jongdae for a team outing. However – you know that because they usually nag him about that.

Jongdae is sporting an exasperated smile on his face, and surprisingly it suits him.

“오늘 안돼. 진짜로! 약속 있거든.” Jongdae notices you and smiles at you through the glass. His team members immediately look back, and they greet you hurriedly. “이분이랑.”

Seungho and Sangmin both whine and you gather that Jongdae just said no. The only thing that is amiss is the fact that they sound incredulous. Maybe Jongdae’s excuse wasn’t good enough? Seungho suddenly claps which startles you. It’s nearly enough for you to drop your steaming mug.

“Sorry,” sheepishly apologizes Sangmin, while Seungho is speaking to Jongdae.

“그럼 그 “행운이 빌어줘”라는 글은… 이거 땜에 였어? 축하한다, 형!”

Korean is such a melodic language. Maybe one day you’ll go back to studying it.

At 1:30 Jongdae salutes you and goes into the meeting, and restless, you focus on cleaning your inbox. You expect at least 40 minutes before he is done, but no more than 20 minutes later he knocks on your door.

“You were supposed to finish _after_ 2,” you say exasperated and Jongdae shrugs with an easy smile. This shrug takes you by surprise – not the motion, but Jongdae’s shoulders. They look way broader than you remembered.

“I will only log off and we can go.” He says instead of any explanation and you nod. Well, it that case you would have managed to catch a ride from your friends, but it’s still good because Jongdae will have a car to come back early if he wants to. You change your slack’s status to “vacationing” and you see Jongdae’s icon also change to palm on the beach.

Only now you realize it’s definitely not suspicious as hell, but you don’t think too much about it. You are not doing anything wrong.

You realize that you’ll need his help because you can’t grab everything, but before you can call him, Jongdae is already back and grabbing your bag _and_ present. You walk together to the elevators and you notice the Korean team staring at you. Suddenly it feels like a walk of shame, but you are not doing anything wrong! You’ve worked overtime to be able to go out early today, and you are not breaking any rules about dating coworkers – because you are not dating Jongdae. You should be good! And yet you feel like what you are doing is really wrong. As you wait for the elevator you can feel stares on your back.

“Is inviting a coworker to a wedding a breach of bylaws?” You ask and Jongdae glances at you. Till this moment he was focused on floor display above the elevators.

“No, I don’t think so.” He says shrugging, and it isn’t really reassuring, but the smell of pine and his cologne surprisingly is. You know that smell, but there, in front of elevators, you feel it consciously.

As you thought Jongdae’s luggage is in his car. He quickly puts your bag in the trunk, present in the backseat and your garment bag next to his own, so they are both hanging from the back window handle. You strap yourself in the passenger seat as he finishes packing you – his car smells just like he does, but the smell here is stronger and yet older. You think that he probably has a bottle of his cologne here for an emergency and you wish you could snoop around in his glove compartment to check your theory. The car shakes when Jongdae gets on, and he sends you one of his easy smiles before turning on the engine.

“Ready to go?” He asks, his ring finger tapping on the wheel. You see a sparkle of something metallic and you realize he has a ring, a simple band. Cold sweat takes over you – _is he married?_ But second later you realize it’s his right hand, and that this band is not as simple as it looked at first glance. You are not sure why you are so relieved when you finally understand that it’s a rosary. “Are you ok?”

You huff a quiet laugh at his question, because yes – you are ok, but you don’t want to talk about it.

“Yeah. Onwards!” Jongdae sends you a side glance, clearly amused, but then he nods and drives away.


End file.
